timberland Stella McCartney turns London

Stella McCartney turns London Fashion Week upside down with underwater show

You’d have to be on another planet to miss out on an Anya Hindmarch handbag. Or so was the message on the final morning of London Fashion Week as the Essex born queen of accessories unveiled her spring/summer collection in a make shift planetarium lined with swirling planets and gravity defying models who floated up the catwalk in harnesses and barely there strings. Bags, attached to a kinetic mechanism which took six months to produce, were raised and lowered from the ceiling as if floating in thin timberland air. “I was inspired by the notion of weight and weightlessness” said the designer after show, “and I loved the idea of activity taking place above our head. It was an exploration”. Hindmarch who is the only accessory designer to show her collection at a catwalk show at Lon timberland don Fashion Week, has form when it comes to putting on a spectacle in a previous season she transformed the Royal Academy into a toy factory but today’s was undoubtedly her most memorable production to date. Calling on catwalk models for the first time, Hindmarch unveiled her latest bag offering against bodycon dresses designed by Lisa Marie Fernandez and shoes by fellow fashion week designer Nicholas Kirkwood.

And what bags they were. Among the designer’s remit for next season is the maxi feather Ebury, a revised version of a Hindmarch classic, which came in muted shades of taupe and powder blue. The Vaughan cross body bag, a sac style satchel in sumptuous butter leather, looked set to be ano timberland ther best seller for brand which has over 54 shops worldwide and an annual turnover that exceeds 20 million.

And there were playful options in there too. A Perspex clutch bag based on the design of a box of Swan matches raised a smile as it hovered above the front row as did Hindmarch’s Happy Shopper, timberland a carrier bag inspired shoulder bag detailed with a smiley face and the words “have a nice day”.

That Hindmarch is able to put on a show focused entirely around accessories is not only testament to the global success of her label but to the demand for accessories among buyers and consumers. Bags are big business and serve as a huge draw to fashion week’s international visitors.

The 5 day long proceedings reach their close this afternoon following shows from Simone Rocha and rising talent initiative Fashion East. Tomorrow planet fashion decamps to Milan.